Person: Kassie, M.
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Kassie
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M.
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Kassie, M.
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0000-0002-5898-3877 6 results
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- Predicting minimum tillage adoption among smallholder farmers using microlevel and policy variables(SpringerOpen, 2017) Marenya, P.P.; Kassie, M.; Jaleta, M.; Rahut, D.B.; Erenstein, O.Minimum tillage combined with mulching (MTM) is critical to conservation agriculture, yet its use by smallholder farmers raises challenging questions regarding adoption, diffusion and scaling at farm level. In this paper, we used probit regression and post-estimation simulations to identify the key micro (farm specific) and macro (country specific) factors as predictors of MTM adoption in four countries spanning a north-south gradient in eastern and southern Africa (ESA): Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi. We found that farmers’ access to markets and social capital empirically predicted MTM adoption. Policies that increased fertilizer subsidies and extension-staff-to-farmer ratios had similar effects, even if only modestly. Conceivably, subsidies specifically targeted at MTM could also be considered based on their potential environmental and social benefits. We conclude that adoption of MTM still faces the same micro- and macro-level hurdles common to all agricultural technologies. Long-term investments in agricultural extension and reductions in the costs of complementary inputs are critical for the diffusion of MTM.
Publication - What's in it for farmers? Farm level advantages of Conservation Agriculture (CA) in Kenya(CIMMYT, 2016) Micheni, A.N.; Kassie, M.; Marenya, P.P.; Nyarindo, W.Conservation agriculture (CA) consists of three principles: reduced tillage, retaining crop residue on the soil surface year round, and crop diversification (either intercropping or rotational systems). This practice is important to sustainably increase crop productivity through improving soil organic matter, conserving moisture, weed control, pests and diseases management, and enhancing farmers’ resilience to drought and climate change and variability. A four year (2010–2014) experiment was established on farmers’ field sites in eastern region (Embu, Meru and Tharaka-Nithi counties) and western region (Siaya and Bungoma counties) of Kenya. The experiments included conventional tillage (CVT) or farmers’ average practices, and two CA-based practices involving no or zero tillage (ZT) and a system of tillage involving construction of furrows and ridges (FR) rather than full tillage (although furrows and ridges were not established in the western Kenya sites). Beans in eastern and Desmodium in western regions were incorporated as intercrop in maize cropping systems. The experiments were carried out both in the short rain (SR) and long rain (LR) seasons. The financial analysis of the various treatments was carried out based on average village grain and crop residue prices and daily labour wage rates. For inputs (fertilizer and herbicides) the prevailing market prices were used.
Publication - Going to scale: How do Conservation Agriculture practices spread among farmers in Kenya?(CIMMYT, 2016) Odendo, M.; Micheni, A.N.; Kassie, M.; Marenya, P.P.; Ayaga, G.; Nkonge, C.; Muricho, G.; Obare, G.Demonstration sites will continue to be centers of experimentation and learning for farmers. The results presented in this brief, demonstrates the efficacy of the demonstration approach to agriculture extension. It is emerging that group cohesion and multi-stakeholder methodology approaches have the potential to be effective and efficient. Field days were found to be effective in awareness creation of conservation agriculture (CA) technologies.
Publication - From few to many: taking Conservation Agriculture practices to scale in Malawi(CIMMYT, 2016) Tione, S.; Marenya, P.P.; Mutenje, M.; Mwale, C.; Ndambuleni, K.; Kassie, M.In the sample of the farmers who were in the vicinity of the farm trial sites and who were contacted for this study, 90 percent reported that they were aware of technologies being promoted. Approximately 63 percent had actually tried the technologies. Farmer preference voting showed that zero or minimum tillage under maize as a sole crop were viewed favorably by most farmers. This was followed by zero/ minimum tillage in maize/legume rotation. The reduction in labor use seem to be a major driver of these preference leanings.
Publication - Pathways to sustainable intensification in Eastern and Southern Africa: looking forward, achieving impact(CIMMYT, 2016) Marenya, P.P.; Kassie, M.Nearly a decade and a half into the 21st century, hunger and malnutrition are still harsh realities for more than one billion people around the world. In addition to this, the challenge of feeding a growing world population that is projected to reach 9 billion by 2050 has to be met despite a declining resource base and in particular dwindling supplies of water and land. Achieving this challenge while protecting the natural ecosystem that supports agriculture and other human needs will involve finding smarter ways to produce more with less. To do this in ways that create opportunities for those on land, earning only a meagre income, is no easy task.
Publication - Crop-livestock interactions in smallholder farming systems and their implications for the adoption of Conservation Agriculture in Kenya(KALRO, 2015) Jaleta, M.; Odendo, M.; Ouma, J.O.; Kassie, M.; Kanampiu, F.This study was conducted as part of the project titled: ‘Enhancing Total Farm Productivity in Smallholder Conservation Agriculture-Based Systems in Eastern Africa’. Its purpose is to inform agronomists and other project partners on the existing crop and livestock production setups in the project intervention sites and to help determine to what extent the interaction between crop and livestock subsystems could potentially facilitate or hinder the adoption of conservation agricultural practices. A number of institutions and individuals contributed in various ways in the production of this baseline information and deserve acknowledgement. The authors would thus like to acknowledge EU-IFAD for funding the project, the Kenyan Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KARLO)-Embu and Kakamega Centers for facilitating the overall implementation of the study, which involved household and community surveys on which this report is based. The authors also acknowledge the contributions of respondent farmers in providing the necessary data gathered during the survey process, Ministry of Agriculture staff for logistic support and the enumerators for their commitment in data collection.
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